The Big K Morning Show
Kidsburg With Kristine
Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDul, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fandul.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDul, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21+ and present in Colorado, first online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issue does now withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com, gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700. I recognize our hometown heroes this week, every morning at this time as we get ready. For Tuesday night's big event, our 12th annual hometown heroes event at the Le Mans, overlooking our great city, and today we want to introduce you to Howard Smith. Howard, good morning. Good morning, Larry. How are you? First and foremost, congratulations and thank you for all you do and have done for so many people. Let's talk about your background and your resume. Tell us a little bit about where you grew up and how you developed this love for hockey and utilized it to help so many others. Well, I grew up in the Hill District and the Liberty and in 1972 my parents moved from the Hill District to East Liberty and it was that that time that year I was about 11 years old. When I saw a hockey game on television and it was between Canada and the Soviet Union, it was just something about the intrigue of that game and it was just something different that said, "I want to try this sport and as you know, back in the early 70s or what have you, there weren't really a lot of places to learn how to play hockey and Pittsburgh, but I kind of persevered and throughout the 70s, I found places to learn how to play the game and that's how my love for the game really grew back in 1972." And people may or may not be aware, I mean, you really worked hard to break through that barrier. The color barrier in hockey, in fact, I know several years ago you were recognized by the National Hockey League with the Willio Reaward. That is correct. Segueing into the Willio Reaward, almost 20 some years ago there was a program that the National Hockey League and the Pittsburgh Penguins put together a program called Hockey in the Hood. I happened to hear about it and see it on the Penguins website at that time and I reached out to a gentleman who worked at Deloitte Touche named Clifford Benson and from there it just spiraled into something that, you know, there's a program out here that's giving kids of color and kids all over the opportunity to learn and play the game. And for 13 years I was a part of that program, Hockey in the Hood then, the name changed the Pittsburgh ice, inclusion creates equality, but beyond that I have taken, you know, my opportunity to hockey, to just heights to where I wanted to spread the message out that yes, hockey is for everyone, not just, you know, locally here but everywhere. So it just continues to this day as to why I enjoy doing this sport so much. And the fact that you were correct, there's not many people of color that play the game and there are programs out there that are changing that. But as I understand it, we're with Howard Smith, one of our five hometown heroes. You've also utilized this to help you talk about breaking through barriers of young people that have physical challenges too and bringing the game to them. Yes, there is a program in Pittsburgh. In fact, there's four programs actually in Western Pennsylvania with USA Hockey's special needs hockey. I'm been a member and a coach with a program that I coach locally here in Pittsburgh called the Steel City Icebergs. The Icebergs is one of four special needs programs in Western Pennsylvania that reach out to children and adults with special needs, whether it's cognitive, ADHD, you know, that sort of thing and this program gives these children and adults the opportunity to play hockey in an environment that is comfortable for them and cognitive for them so that they can enjoy this great sport that we do. Well, we're so thrilled to have you represent part of our community that's underserved many times and you're looked at as a great leader and you also help veterans like yourself with PTSD, hockey is a great and I know that some veteran organizations utilize the sport to recreate that bonding that's missing in a lot of young men and women's lives after they serve. That is correct for the last five years. I've been a member of the Pittsburgh Warriors Disabled Veterans Hockey Program. The Pittsburgh Warriors are one of 45 programs throughout the United States that give veterans and disabled veterans the opportunity to play hockey and use that opportunity as an opportunity and a way to heal through whatever traumatic issues that we may be dealing with throughout our lives and the fact that we all have something in common with ourselves and on the team. We also serve our nation. Well, Coach Howard, thank you for your service first and foremost and I don't know if you're aware of this but one of our previous lifetime achievement awardees also going to be in the room Tuesday. You might be of interest in Craig Patrick. Yes, I actually got to meet Mr. Patrick a number of years ago when I was doing the Hockey and the Hood Program and it's just an honor to know that he's going to be there and also Jim Leland. You know, finally get to meet him in person and I'm just very honored and very humbled by being, you know, this award. Yeah, and former Steelers GM Kevin Colburn will also be in for our dinner. So we're looking forward to seeing you there next Tuesday and meeting you in person and sharing your story with our group. Thank you, Howard. Thank you, Larry, and I look forward to next Tuesday and seeing you. Howard Smith, one of our hometown heroes on the Big Game Morning Show. Coming up, we'll get an in studio visit. Christine Sorensen, KDK TV, Acre Woman. And of course, Marty's lovely wife. Where is Marty? Some walk past the window here a while ago. Meanwhile, a lot going on tonight. Do you got the gold over America? The Olympic Gymnister here with Simone Biles at PPG Paints over to Pete AEW wrestling. The Penguins get ready to wrap up their preseason, getting ready for their new season ahead. And then there is the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Dallas Cowboys. There is something special about Sunday night football. Sunday night football is now what the old Monday night football used to be in terms of national interest. It is almost always the feature game of the weekend. And certainly Steelers and Cowboys are a big draw. And Coach Tomlin spoke to the media horde yesterday, including our own Jeff Hathorn in his weekly press conference to talk about the game. You do what you got to do from a coaches perspective. I use the phrase all the time, if you got red paint, your paint, your barn red. And so, you know, with those dynamic edge people like Lawrence and maybe even Parsons out, we better get ready for a lot of schematic pressure from him. You like that, Aaron? You can impress your husband by saying, I believe there's going to be a lot of schematic pressure. He's going to be like, where the heck are you getting those terms from? Seriously, write that down to try it out. Schematic pressure. Yeah, just say, you know, I'm thinking there's going to be a lot of schematic pressure here tonight for the game. And Coach, I love Coach Tomlin. Yeah, he's amazing. There is nobody that I have ever met or heard that in the moment can string words together. And you follow what he's saying, even though the way he says it is different than anybody anywhere. Very strategic. And it's very, he just has his own lingo. The strength of the brand of the brands is something that is to be respected. And I respect that every day, man, when I get out of that car, in this parking lot, it's a responsibility to represent the black and gold. And I'd imagine the guys in Dallas feel the same way. You can't put a price tag on standards and legacy and both organizations have that. We walk on the ground. It's been paved for us by those that have come before us. We feel really blessed and honored to do so and sure that that will be reflected in the way that both teams play this weekend. That's actually extraordinary. That's it. It's unbelievable. And by the way, so the conversation every week since week one has been his Russell Wilson, who was pretty much named the starter coming here hasn't played it down yet because he's had some calf issue. So Justin Fields is three and one as the quarterback and looks like he's going to be a go for Sunday, but just met with our training staff and Russ and plotted out a course for his work today. We'll have another strong workday. Today we'll see how he feels in the morning and we'll let that be our guide in terms of his participation, but it seems like he's in a place where his participation is going to pick up some in terms of a practice setting a live pocket, if you will. We won't draw too many conclusions, but we'll just start that process and we'll comb through that day by day, evaluate his ability to move and function and protect himself and obviously evaluate his level of productivity and we'll let that be our guide in terms of whether we get into serious consideration as we push forward toward game time this week. So in a lot of ways, I'm taking the same posture that I've taken in recent weeks. I'm acknowledging that he's doing more work today than he did last Tuesday is probably going to produce the potential of more work tomorrow and then we'll have some conversations as we proceed through the week based on the result of those things. Do you get all that? Yeah, that was a lot, but you know what I think is really cool. Everybody knows and loves Russell Wilson. You know, he's great at what he does, but I think long term, I just love that you can tell he believes in Justin Fields. And who are we talking to? I don't know if Paul said it or Jeff actually the last time you talked to him. He said when Justin Fields was, you know, on his previous team, the coach, we didn't necessarily get that he had a coach that believed in him that can make all the difference. Wow. Look at you getting locked in, I'm impressed. Thanks, Larry. And Mike Tomlin impressed with Justin Fields overall, or he wouldn't be doing what he's doing. I've speculated about some things I've seen from him and there's some components of his football and competitive personality that are really likable and I just think when you end those moments and you get an opportunity to show who you are in those moments, they're less speculation. And so some things that I was speculating about somewhat last week about his steady demeanor, about his competes and so forth, just got solidified and verified the challenges that we faced last week. I hope you're writing all this down because oh, I am. I need you to impress your husband and his brother comes over to watch the games. Schematic. What was it? Oh, no, I know I missed the second word. Schematic. Oh, man, we'll get it. It'll pop back into our memory. I'll find it meanwhile, schematic. Now I forgot it. It's because Mike Tomlin said so much. I know. I love one of his greatest quotes of all time is we're not going to be Indians in their Cowboys movie. Wow, that's a good one liner. This would be a good one for this. Let me see if I can find just one more. Let's see. We got I got a whole list. Mike Zimmer is no novice. He's been around. We've competed against him over the years. Man got a lot of respect for his approach to ball, his aggressive schematic demeanor. He's one of the Godfathers of double A pressure, if you will. The Godfather of double A pressure schematic. It was in there too. He likes that word this week. That could be, let's see, it could be the word of the week. Let me give you one more before we get to Christine who's probably wanting to come into studio here. She could do whatever she wants. She's an anchor woman for God's sake. Right? Yes. Here she comes. All right. And here's Coach Tomlin, final note about Justin Fields play an indie on Sunday. You know, that's what I expect competitors to do. And that's what I was talking about the other week when I sense the competitors trait in him. Not surprised by that. Expect that to continue. Certainly want to minimize the negativity, but it's just a component of competing at this level, how you respond to adversity defines you individually and collectively. How you respond to adversity defines you, Erin. That is something you write down. Never forget it. Mike Tomlin challenges reveal character. They don't necessarily build it. You want to write that schematically down for me? Yes. Thank you, Larry. Save that for a future show when the chips are down. It's half hour. We'll check in with Marty Griffin. And now Marty's wife, Christine Sorensen, Katie KTV, anchor woman is here. Talk a little kidsburg, kidsburg.org, Christine. Good morning. Good morning. I was watching Katie KTV as I always do wall to wall. I've never put on any other channel, but your team and then the debate last night and I saw John Delano was on the network talking about the import. Hey NFL fans. You can start the season with a big return on FanDul, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play by play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fandul.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDul, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. First online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now with drawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com gambling problem call 1-800-522-4700. Prince of Pennsylvania. Well, we were so excited that John got an exclusive interview with Kamala Harris. I mean, I saw it happening well, it was during the five o'clock, but I saw them setting up in the newsroom, a special area for him to do the live interview over Zoom with her, which was a big deal. She's only done a handful of these. So we were, I mean, John knows his stuff and that's why they go to him, which is awesome. And then yeah, the network talked to him about Pennsylvania because as you know, we are such a key state in this election. Yeah. So I guess John will share some of that interview starting today at 4-2. Right. Exactly. We'll have a lot more throughout the day, absolutely. And he in the past has interviewed Donald Trump. He's interviewed all the big candidates over the years. Yes, yes. All right. Let's talk about Kidsburg as we move into October. It's the scary season and I just yesterday got it. I guess we have some Halloween stuff stored and it was my job to get out the gear. Right. Yes. It is time now that we're in October. It's time to start thinking about Halloween and you know, some of it is scary, which is why I love that we at Kidsburg have found 45 plus not so scary Halloween events for kids because some of it is really not appropriate for little kids, but a lot of it they do gear toward little ones. And so three that I want to mention that are happening now and every weekend through Halloween are Halleboo at Ida Wild, which is where they, you know, we always think of young kids for Ida Wild anyway, but they turn it into more of a Halloween theme where kids and families should dress up and they get to go trick-or-treating and do all kind of fun Halloween stuff. And then in the evening, they do turn that into more of a place that's scarier for teens and grown-ups. Same vibe happening at Phantom Fall Fest at Kenny Wood, you know, fun for the kids during the day and then a little scarier in the evening for the teenagers and adults. And then this is a brand new one happening. It's at the Pittsburgh Zoo. It's called the Jack-O-Lantern extravaganza. And it's happening from 6.30 to 10.30 at night. And it's all about these intricately carved pumpkins. And it's not about the animals. Most of the animals will be not out at that time, but it's really about walking through the beautiful scenery they have there and enjoying the cool pumpkins. I'm liking this Satchquatcha, railroad where you might get a glimpse of Bigfoot. Hey, you never know. You never know where you might see them. Right? Uh-oh. Marty's in the house. She was snoring during that debate last night, brother. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Larry. Slack, John. What's the... Well, as you know, I fall asleep at 10 every night and went past 10, so... Densures were... Densures were coming out. 10 hit and boom. I was... Where? Out. Were the Dorito bags empty or... Oh, the Dorito dust all over her shirt. Hopcorn, yeah. Rosie in her lap. Yup. Me and Vince. Honey. Honey. Huh. That's a good debate. Who am I voting for? Oh, man. That's funny. It was hilarious. Wow. Where was your video? I loved the video last time you... I've been... After the big awards. You're either post a video and get no... or you get some and you don't post a video. You know what I'm saying, Larry? Mm-hmm. Video? No booty. All right. I know video. You know what I'm saying, Larry? I... Larry, are you familiar with this at all, sir? No. I don't know what you're talking about. All right. We'll catch up with Marty in detail in a moment. Meanwhile... Back to Kidsberg. Yeah. Where were we? Oh, man. Well, I want to tell you guys tonight is your one chance to see gold over America Tour. This is Simone Biles and I just put this together. Larry, what is G-O-A-T gold over America Tour? So stand for... Goat! Oh. Simone Biles with a goat. So it's really going to be a great show. They've got several of the other female gymnasts as well as the men's gymnastics team. And it's not going to be your typical like what you see in a gymnastics competition. They're actually doing choreographed dances with gymnastics to fun music, including, you know, Taylor Swift Beyonce. Aren't you going to go as a former dancer? I know. I can't wait. I'm hoping to get to go tonight because it does sound amazing. And I heard that what steals a show is when the men's team does, I'm just can, which does sound hilarious. That's cool. Yeah. A lot of fun. Also happening right in town on Saturday, it's the Festival of Combustion at the Carrie Blast Furnaces. This sounds so cool. They've got blacksmiths, glass blowers, welders, metal fabricators doing all kinds of cool things, including hands-on activities that will also be tours, music, food trucks. It's going to be a really cool event and kids under 18 are free. So that's going to be a really neat event. You can see all these at kidsburg.org on our list of all the stuff to do this weekend. Wait a minute. Festival of Combustion. Yes. We got to bring this up when Marty comes back. We'll have a heyday with that, I'm sure. All right. Kidsburg.org, Christine, yesterday had the chance to talk to the man who produced and wrote Goldover America. He's from near Evansburg, Pennsylvania. Oh, wow. And he went to Point Park University, graduated as a dancer, an artist, an actor, and a writer. And his whole family's coming in tonight. Oh, that's so exciting. To be in person with him. And he said he's the director of the show. Wow. But he's going to be able to sit with them because he pretty much said they got it. Well, Point Park, I mean, produces incredible, talented people. So I'm not surprised that that, you know, would come from that school. That's awesome. So his name is Mark Swanhart. I said, what a great name. I didn't ask him if that was a stage name, but it might be Swanhart. Anyway, you all right, Goldover America, Simone Biles is here. And coming up, Marty will talk about the Festival of Combustion, among other things. kidsberg.org, Bill to Marty Griffin, get Marty, Christine. Just curious, Marty posted a picture of your daughter, Chloe, with your daughter, Sophia. And she was accepted into the University of Pittsburgh also. Yes, her first acceptance into college, University of Pittsburgh. She's so excited. You, I don't think people realize how difficult it is to get into Pitt. I think it's become much, much more competitive. Yes, the you have to have good grades. You have to take hard classes. It's definitely not easy to get into Pitt anymore. It's in the top. I think it was like around 70 in the US News and World Report among all schools. That includes public, private, everything. Well, that's very cool. Yeah. You know, it's adorable. It was hell about it, honestly, on a real personal level. If that happens, all three of them, obviously, including my wife, will be in the same sorority. Now, that's actually very cute. What's your sorority? Try Delta. I mean, you never know, Chloe, could pick a different one, but she does really, she's gotten to see how much Sophia's enjoyed, Pitt, and, you know, being in the sorority. And I think that certainly has had an influence. But, you know, she's applying to a lot of schools, and we'll see. And Penn State is still one of her top choices. Hold on. Her boyfriend's a Carnegie Mellon. If they don't break up, she'll go to Pitt. If they break up, she'll go to Penn State. What about Penn West Clarion? How about last? No, man. How about last night? Here's what happens. But here's what she tries to do, my wife. And they try to go behind Daddy's back. But that's kind of impossible to do, as we all know. Trying to get schools outside of the seven-hour range. Now the seven-hour range is, if I can drive there, and it's less than seven hours, she can go there. If I can't, she can't. So my wife tried to sneak in like schools nine hours away. It ain't happening. It's not happening. You draw a circle around a map. Hey, man, there's a couple thousand colleges within seven hours. I think we can find one. You know what that is? It's selfish. You know why? Because we had a daughter who had an appendicitis, and we had her in the hospital. She's been in the hospital two times. And the truth is, I can leave here right now and be at her dorm at ten o'clock. Oh, I'm the first to say it's been a wonderful having her close. I mean, even just something as simple as, you know, being able to come to the baby shower or to visit my parents when they were visiting in town. It's been really nice. You know what, Larry? They get attitude. I'll tell you what. We're about to spend $200,000 plus in your education. You go wherever the hell you want if you want to pay, knock your blanking self out. I do think Chloe has seen the advantages of being close in the last two years. And she's really tight with money, and she ain't paying no money to go to college. I'm just being, I tell all parents the same thing. I mean, I can't drive there. I don't pay for you to go there. We don't pay. We work our asses off to pay for $1.4 million, the estimate to send my three kids to college and get two of the girls married just saying this is from our financial advisors. That's Larry Richard money. That's your side hustle money, this debate. And I think Patrick would agree because we're talking about this in the back. These two candidates were the better halves of the actual candidates themselves. Vance is what Trump should be. I'm serious. He was an adult. He was focused. He talked about specific policy, he handled conflict as a man. He was kind and compassionate. He actually turned to walls and said, I'm sorry that happened because walls son saw somebody shot in front of him. He is what Trump should be fact and walls did something Kamala Harris never does. He talked about policy, specific policy, very direct, insane research, total control of what they were talking about. That was a man's man's debate. Everything about women here, not trying to be misogynist, but the fact is Larry, there were two adults in the room last night. Speaking of which made it boring as hell, man, women speaking of women. How would you evaluate Nora O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan as the anchor women. It's irrelevant. It's all tofu to me. I could care less who anchors those shows. If you want to pick on the anchors, that's fine, but they're both extremely intelligent. Both incredibly, but Margaret Brennan is a badass. If you watch her show on Sunday and I have for years, she is as thorough a journalist as there is an existence. I thought they were a little bit snippy when they cut the fellas off and started to school them. I thought that was a little bit attitudinal, right? But beyond that, I could care less who's host. It's almost like this, Larry. When people whine about Tom Brady as the voice of some game, I don't care who's calling the game, man. I'm watching the game regardless. Same with these debates. Have you ever tuned in to a game to watch or listen to the announcers on TV? In my life, because this is actually a wonderful point, two men drew me to the game. Howard Cosell and John Madden. That's it. And one radio voice. Come on, Larry. Byron Coatt. Bam. Outside of that, bro, you could pay a guy 10 bucks to do those games, honestly. Whether paying Tom Brady 30, 35, 40 million a year, a year for a 10 year contract, 350 million. Also, John Delano was a big star last night. I love JD, you know, that we go way, way back. He was the man CBS was raving about him on the national broadcast. They really were. He's a talent. He is connected. He knows his stuff. Well, who gets them? Yeah. Who gets them? Who gets the big players in this market? JD. Speaking of big players, I don't know if Christine mentioned, she'd really like to go to gold over America tonight. If you have a connection. What is that? I apologize. Some banger. Vials and all the gymnast are people. We saw that last time. It was very interesting. We have seen them when they came another time. It wasn't. But they're doing dance this time with music, including, still Marty, what the men are doing. I'm just can. The men's gymnastics team is going to do. I'm just getting. I think I got the runs up in the bathroom all night. I can't go to that stuff. I'm sorry. No, man. Can you? By the way, tomorrow, call one of your boys for time. I could actually. You know that, Larry. One text done. Hey, tomorrow, John Federman. Oh, coming on the show. Wow. You know what I did? I reached out. I said, John, what we doing here, man? We were in Larry knows this. We were good friends. 958 to have them on the air at 10 o'clock. We got to get back into that. These local politicians, their voice has to be heard locally. I've said this about the governor. He's too much of a big shot now and he's chasing CNN and Fox News and all that stuff. And that's fine and dandy that you're in the Wall Street Journal. But at the end of the day, where the rubber hits the road, which is why Kamala Harris did an interview with John Delano, where it really matters is right here in this town in this election. And John said it last night. And Salina Zito has said this before Larry, Erie, Pennsylvania, you could argue has determined the last two presidential elections, Erie, friggin Pennsylvania for folks who think we don't count. That's bogus. What time's Federman come on? Oh, one o'clock. I'm going to talk about Primani's. Did you see his Primani's post? I did. That's a big get. That's Primani's post was gold. Speaking of gold, I think you got your tickets for tonight. I think so. All right, Christine. We'll look for you on Katie KTV. I'll be there. Four and five. Marty'll be. 10 to 2 right here. Get Marty. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDul, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fandul.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDul, an official sports book partner of the NFL.